The contents and data of computer systems or information systems can be lost after a data loss event. Therefore, backup is important for ensuring recovery of the data of the computer systems or information systems in the case of corruption, data loss, or disaster. It is desirable for computer files and data stored on a file server or a workstation to be backed up periodically by a backup and recovery system, so that the computer files and data may be restored after a data loss event.
In the event of a hardware failure, such as a server malfunction, a system administrator may need to perform disaster recovery or bare metal recovery using the backup media. That is, in some situations, the server is so damaged that the machine cannot be booted up or the machine no longer has a working operating system and the server must be restored from “bare metal.” Conventional disaster recovery or bare metal recovery process is burdensome and time consuming. The data recovery process can be even more challenging when the size of the backup data is large, such as when the back up data belongs to a data center. In the event of a disaster or catastrophic hardware failure, the system administrator must be able to restore the backup data and bring the system up in operating condition quickly. Therefore, data restore or recovery method that can shorten the recovery time is desirable.